CAR-LESS AT LAST: June 2025

CARLESS AT LAST! JUNE 2025

I tried to go carless in California during October 2024, but couldn’t quite reach that goal.  Instead, I achieved carless in Switzerland and Austria in June 2025.  It was easy to reach this goal, while being difficult in California.

My husband and I began our trip on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) from Berkeley to the San Francisco International Airport, but not without asking our neighbor for a ride to the BART station.  Taking a bus to the station would have added at least 45 minutes to our trip in the early morning. 

We flew 11 hours to Zurich then caught a train, inside the Zurich airport to Bern where our Swiss friends live.  Marcel was waiting on the platform to meet us with a big smile and news that we would be taking a bus to his and Francesca’s home in Ostermundigen. 

Oh no, I thought in silence, I’ve just been travelling nearly 17 hours, isn’t there something easier than taking the bus? I was still in California think.  But as guests we quietly followed Marcel out of the station across a trafficked plaza to the bus stop.   We hardly had five minutes for the bus to arrive.  We hopped on, rolling suitcases in tow for a twenty-minute ride to the car free community where the Marcel and Francesca.  

Arriving at the complex, there were bicycles parked near every building.  They were not locked, something that would be hard to see in California.

Later in that afternoon, gave us a tour of the community. On the ground floor of their apartment bloc we visited the social room where parties and meetings can be scheduled.  I was very pleased to see a piano, a kitchen and bathroom.   There were outdoor play spaces for children, a small , in case of emergency shop, as well as garden spaces for the residents.

Especially impressive was the cool, dark underground parking lot filled with every imaginable model of bicycle including lightweight road bikes,  family style cycle wagons, e-bikes, children’s bikes and a repair station available to all.

Marcel had reserved two e-bikes for our use.  Early Saturday afternoon, we lined up in formation:  Marcel followed by Vian (12), Robert and Anna (9) while Francesca and I moseyed along behind.  We rode among other apartment blocks where cars were normal. Unlike in California, the streets felt safe because they were narrow; the cars were smaller and drivers more accustomed to sharing the road with cyclists. 

We quickly left the residential area heading along a pathway that crossed open fields of farmland.  Slipping through a stand of elm trees, we stopped, parked our bikes, then trundled down the hillside to banks of the Arne River. 

Most of Europe, including Switzerland, was experiencing a heat wave.  The mid-June temperatures were on average 15 degrees above normal putting the thermometer between 83 to  88 degrees Fahrenheit.     Hot, but not too hot for a swim in the icy. blue glacier melt fill the Arne river.  Francesca jumped in, purple aqua socks first and floated fast downstream.  The rest of us ran along the tree shaded bank to meet her at a tiny inlet where families with young children were splashing.

After the weekend, Francesca, Robert and I took the quick bus ride from Ostermondegen  back to the Bern rail station where we caught a train to Lucerne.  The train came exactly on time:  9:43.  Swiss trains are considered late if they arrive 30 seconds past the schedule!    

Like most in Switzerland, the trains travel full.  It’s easy to understand why:  they are quiet, air conditioned, comfortable and on time.  Unlike California, where there are only single track lines, a passenger train will not be held up behind a freight carrier. 

Treated to spectacular views of  mountains, rivers, and lakes, I asked myself, why would anyone choose to drive if the train is an option?  And because as train travelers we didn’t have to keep our eyes on the road, we were free to chat with other passengers while  drinking  a beer or a soda. 

Following four days in Lucerne, we boarded a train to Zurich then connected with another train to Vienna.  If we had flown, yes, it would have been faster.  Would we be able to view the Alps of Innsbruck and the gentle countryside of Austria en route to Vienna?  Obviously, no.

In Vienna, we met our daughter, Chalyn and granddaughter, Zahava.  An Airbnb aficionado, Chalyn had identified the perfect apartment just  a few walkable blocks from Vienna’s busy central station and only  an half block from the Belveder museum and gardens.  Even in a big city like Vienna, we saw people of all ages (from 8 to 80 )  riding bicycles , not for recreation but to do their shopping, get to work or visits friends in another neighborhood. The Viennese do, however, use bicycle locks.  We bought three tough, collapsable steel locks for our bikes back home, especially important for Zahava whose only transportation at UC Davis is her two wheeler.         

            Later in Salzberg, Austria we discovered it was only a few minute’s walk along the carless streets of the old city  to a bus that would take us out of town to a beautiful lake in the countryside.  There we found a day spa on the lake with a restaurant that served vegetarian poke bowls, pizza, salads and, of course, anything you might wish to drink.   The lake swimming was complimented by a toddlers’ wading pool with randomly spouting fountains, wind sails for hire and a lap pool for swimmers who might to stroke a measured kilometer or two.

            To come and go from Salzburg was only a 45-minute ride for the price of 2 euros ($2.50) on an airconditioned, big, windowed bus like private tour buses in the US.  And the buses, as one might expect were full of passengers, unlike many at home.  It was almost beyond the realm of a Californian’s imagination.

Conclusion:  Going carless appeared to be a seamless part of daily life in both Switzerland and Austria,  a realistic option for anyone.  We met professionals going to work; kids riding to school, groups of young people going on holiday with their schools; families visiting friends and relatives in other cities, as well as tourists, like ourselves. 

Going carless also made so much sense for both health and climate friendly considerations.  Of course, there were cars on the streets everywhere we visited.  Still we found being without a car was unimaginably easy by comparison with California.

Our only disappointment occurred as we left  the norther Berkeley BART station on July 3.  We had to call for a ride home.